Civil War Questions....?

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Question:

I am going to be writing a story on the civil war so I have some questions!.!.!.
1!. What are some regiments (confederate, obviously) from Virginia that fought, what counties were they from and what battles did they fight in!? I've found limited info on wikipedia and some reenactment sites, but I'd like a better source!.
2!. Would it be socially acceptable for a son of a southern plantation owner to marry a girl from Boston!. (before the war starts, late 1860/early 1861)!? Would she be gossiped about, even ostracized!?

Any recommendations for books or websites on civil war daily life would be appreciated!. Thanks!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

So far as I know the state of Virginia has never put together a collected set of histories of its regiments!. Some southern states have, so there is a book you can look in and it gives you a regimental history and often a roster of members, by company, which usually tells which county each company was from!. Since there isnt a collected source youd have to research on a regiment by regiment and company by company basis!. It might be easier, if you have an area in mind, to figure out which units were raised in that area and use those!. You can be assured that every county in Virginia had several companies in the Confederate Army!.

WEST Virginia had divided loyalties - this was part of Virginia but seceded from the state, and the new state of West Virginia was set up in 1863!. Men from there joined units that went to both blue and gray!. Here's a list of Confederate Regiments raised in West Virginia:

http://www!.mikalac!.com/civ/regwvc!.html

Here's some websites with links to pages individual researchers have made concerning various Virginia regiments!.

http://www!.mosocco!.com/va!.html
http://www!.geocities!.com/Area51/Lair/368!.!.!.

The National Park Service has the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, which is down at the moment, but I know it has a very brief history of every unit, and a function that allows searching by unit - if you go there and pick a unit I think you could tell where a company was from by the place its members entered the service:

http://www!.itd!.nps!.gov/cwss/

EDIT: All Virginia regiments fought in "the east", meaning the Virginia Theater of the War!. After July 1 1862 this was General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, before there were big Battles at Manassas and Seven Pines!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

1!. To a quick google search for Virginia Regiments will yeild many results!. Assuming your story is going to be complete fiction, I would pick one of the Cavalry Units under JEB Stuart, such as the 1st, 4th, or 9th Cavalry!.

2!. Wasn't uncommon at all because often, the sons of plantation owners would go up North to receive a college education!. Many Southerners attended Yale, Princeton, and Harvard as well as West Point!. also, you would be surprised at how many plantation owners where transplanted Northerners who came South and took up plantation life!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

there waw the Army of Northern Virginia led by General Robert E !. Lee - there was the 9 th Virginia Regiment!. There was the Stonewall Brigade led by Stonewall Jackson of the confederate army!. There was Jeb Stuarts Cavalry of the Confederate Army!.

yes it would be frowned on and they would be ostracised in either areas if they decided to live there after marryingWww@QuestionHome@Com

First, Civil War records often did not list enlistees by their county, although the record may show what county or city they signed up in, I really doubt they had to show their "home of record" or address!. First, they didn't have addresses like we do today in most rural places, where the postal service was often on a "first name" basis, everyone knew everyone!.

Many soldiers could barely read and write, and signed their enlistment papers only with a "X" too, very brief forms then!.

Confederates usually had "state" armies, whereas even though the north had state militias too, they joined together units from more states into sort of a "federal" army!.

Robert E!. Lee headed the Army of Virginia, it was his home state!. But, recruits into the Virginia Army could have come from anywhere, both north and south!.

It would be very unlikely that a girl from Boston would marry a man Southern Planter son, because people did not travel that much, and men were often introduced to women of the "marrying age" in their own area, within walking distance!.

Slow travel complicated courting, you could travel less than 30 miles a day (one way) by horse, if you had a good road!.

And, yes, people who were strange, or not like the "locals" would be gossiped about, just like today!.

Use the resource below to find battle names, most of the Big One's in Virginia and Pennsylvania were fought by Lee and his Virginia Army!.
And the second link has good info about life during the Civil War era!.Www@QuestionHome@Com